Rubber Down Customs ( RDC ) 2" lift install.

Gave it a good 50 mile ride today. It's a very different machine with the lift and 26" Bighorns on it. I like it. It performed very well. A little different feel for sure. The new Bighorns have much better traction in the rough stuff and on hill climbs, but skate around more on the loose gravel roads at high speed than the Duro's did. Lift is very solid and I got the Bilsteins dialed in good. One issue. When the suspension unloads I am rubbing my axles on the passenger side both front and rear. The rear is rubbing on the lower shock Bolt flange and the front is rubbing on the frame near the diff. Seems like they are both just barely touching. Dont have any grooving going on its just wiping the dirt off. At this point i'm not real concerned about it.

Mine was hitting hard enough I was afraid it would put the right rear axle in a bind and cause premature failure. I talked with Paul from Rubber down customs today and he said if he got time this week he would work on a front leveling kit that had about 1.5 inch lift.

It is hitting when the suspension is unloaded, therefor there is minimal torque stress on it when rubbing. As soon as the suspension reloads the rub is gone. I really dont see a problem with it.

The problem I seen is I run no rear sway bar so when rock crawling the right rear axle can drop hard and all the load (from the drop and spring) will be forced on the axle (where it hits the frame) instead of the shocks or sway bar, because with the rear lift my axle hit hard before my shock fully extended. I seen no problem with the front on mine other than the tire lean.

With the redone kit the front should have less tire lean and should be almost level with the rear seeing my front is almost 2 inches lower than the rear stock. Yielding me almost 14 inches ground clearance front and rear.

Limit-straps??? I know another expense, but you could get the droop set to the exact limit so's not to hit the frame. Just an idea.

ridepate wrote:

Limit-straps??? I know another expense, but you could get the droop set to the exact limit so's not to hit the frame. Just an idea.

Thought about that. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

I thought about the limit straps but then you would loose the articulation you gain from the sway bar removal. Plus I didn't gain but 1 inch in the rear so I don't think it would be worth the trouble to run the rear lift.

Not downing the kit, he makes excellent quality lift kits (and when he gets the modified front setup done I will have one) but some rhinos apparently are setup differently stock.

wvyankee2 wrote:

ridepate wrote:

Limit-straps??? I know another expense, but you could get the droop set to the exact limit so's not to hit the frame. Just an idea.

Thought about that. I'm going to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.

Honestly, if it's not hitting the frame hard enough to go wham,bam and not gouging anything, it probably will be ok.

mud-and-guts wrote:

I thought about the limit straps but then you would loose the articulation you gain from the sway bar removal. Plus I didn't gain but 1 inch in the rear so I don't think it would be worth the trouble to run the rear lift.

Not downing the kit, he makes excellent quality lift kits (and when he gets the modified front setup done I will have one) but some rhinos apparently are setup differently stock.

The 1/4 inch you limit the suspension so's not to hit the frame, you'll never notice in articulation, really.

No problem on the left side. The Rhino frame is offset to the right. That is where the problem lies. If the kit was 1 3/4 instead of 2" it would be perfect for me. Like I said though, it is barely touching when unloaded so i'm not that concerned.

wvyankee2 wrote:

No problem on the left side. The Rhino frame is offset to the right. That is where the problem lies. If the kit was 1 3/4 instead of 2" it would be perfect for me. Like I said though, it is barely touching when unloaded so i'm not that concerned.

Have you got the steel rear blocks or the aluminum? The aluminum blocks I had have less overall lift and may fix your problem but then your front will be higher than the rear! but if you had one of his modified kits for the front and the aluminum blocks on the rear you may clearance fine and ride level...

ridepate wrote:

The 1/4 inch you limit the suspension so's not to hit the frame, you'll never notice in articulation, really.

True, but I honestly don't feel it would be worth the extra time and effort plus $$$$ for less than 1 inch clearance.

I have the steel blocks, and my front is allready 1' higher than the rear.

wvyankee2 wrote:

I have the steel blocks, and my front is allready 1' higher than the rear.

Sounds like you need the modified front and rear setup. The rear blocks he has already made and yielded me 1 inch clearance in the rear. how much did you gain in the rear with the steel blocks?

I had 9 1/2" clearance before the lift and 26" Bighorns. I know have 12 1/2".

I know I'm new to this forum but did the Billsteins add additional lift from the factory setup before you put the lift on?I don't think the rear C.V.'s are going to like that steep angle they are on. Not trying to come off as a know it all prick but I thought I read where that C.V. type is only rated at 24 or 27 degree before binding occurs.Love the look but you may want to research that a little and check where they are sitting at full droop.Just a suggestion.Happy wheelin

wvyankee2 wrote:

I had 9 1/2" clearance before the lift and 26" Bighorns. I know have 12 1/2".

Didn't you have really small tires before? Did you measure them? I don't understand why yours sets so much lower than mine even after you have the lift.

Baxter wrote:

I know I'm new to this forum but did the Billsteins add additional lift from the factory setup before you put the lift on?I don't think the rear C.V.'s are going to like that steep angle they are on. Not trying to come off as a know it all prick but I thought I read where that C.V. type is only rated at 24 or 27 degree before binding occurs.Love the look but you may want to research that a little and check where they are sitting at full droop.Just a suggestion.Happy wheelin

Out of the Box settings with the Bilsteins provided a little more lift to the front and a little less to the rear. This is due to the 250/350 spring rates versus the 200/400 of the stock shock springs. Before the lift the fronts felt good to me, but the backs felt too soft (probably due to my 75 pounds of tools and box in the bed). That is by design to try to keep the front from bottoming out and try to keep the rear from bucking which is what a Rhino tends to do. It worked really well but left me with only 10" of ground clearance in the front and 9 " in the rear with the only 24" of Duro tire I had left. Thus the 2" lift and 26" Bighorns. I ended up with 14" in the front and 13" in the rear after the lift and tires. When I put my toolbox back in the bed the rear dropped to 12 1/2". I backed off the preload on the fronts by over 3/4 inch and dropped the clearance to 13 1/2" in the front. Due to the natural stiffing of the suspension with the lift, leaving the rear preloads alone and backing way off the front has pretty well addressed the soft rear situation and kept the front about where it was.

Now the droop. Not sure about the binding angle. I thought I read somewhere where it was 21 or 24 degrees but cant remember. Anyway, I jacked up front and rear to full droop and checked for binding. None what so ever. Turned front wheels full left and right and freewheels nice and smooth.


Here are some pics of the rubbing areas. The front which seems to be the worst, I still can slide a thin paper coupon between the axle and the frame. I mean it is just barely touching.


Front










Rear

If your keeping that lift on there you better limit it.At full droop those C.V.'s are way past there limit. I'm not trying to be mean but I bet if you put a protractor on the axle your between 35 and 40 degrees.Pictures do deceive but the boots are getting tight so it's angled pretty good.Like I said I'm new and don't want you mad at me but I would consider limit straps at the least.

Baxter wrote:

If your keeping that lift on there you better limit it.At full droop those C.V.'s are way past there limit. I'm not trying to be mean but I bet if you put a protractor on the axle your between 35 and 40 degrees.Pictures do deceive but the boots are getting tight so it's angled pretty good.Like I said I'm new and don't want you mad at me but I would consider limit straps at the least.

I believe your right. I think I'm going to get some limit straps. Better safe than sorry.

ridepate wrote:

Limit-straps??? I know another expense, but you could get the droop set to the exact limit so's not to hit the frame. Just an idea.

Ding-Ding...................

Yep, another expense. I can get the 4 limit straps fpr $50. Small price for piece of mind. Deciding on anchor points now.

wvyankee2 wrote:

Yep, another expense. I can get the 4 limit straps fpr $50. Small price for piece of mind. Deciding on anchor points now.

Usaully on each end of the shock.

ridepate wrote:

wvyankee2 wrote:

Yep, another expense. I can get the 4 limit straps fpr $50. Small price for piece of mind. Deciding on anchor points now.

Usaully on each end of the shock.

Thats what i'm going to do on the front. On the rear, i'm going to fasten to top A-arm bolt on the frame, and to the lower A-arm where the sway bar used to fasten.

Well chock this lift up as a big failure. At least for the 2004-2007 Rhinos. May work with 08&09's . Too much lift. CV boot got a hole in it from rubbing on itself due to angle.